Despite pushing hard, the Gold Coast Suns fell away badly in the final quarter to a 49-point defeat against a weakened Geelong outfit at Metricon Stadium.

A four-goal performance from Nathan Bock and the superstar talent of Gary Ablett proved to be no match for Geelong’s mix of premiership veterans, lead by captain Joel Selwood and their young players, especially Mitchell Brown.

The match was marked by tough challenges by the Gold Coast’s Steven May and a strong showing from Geelong’s next generation.

The opening quarter was a free-flowing affair, with Nathan Bock putting Gold Coast ahead with three goals. However, Geelong’s forward delivery proved to be more dangerous, leading to the Cats taking back the lead by the end of the first quarter.

Geelong took control through the second period, with Jimmy Bartel and Cameron Guthrie building on Geelong’s advantage from midfield.

Despite the Gold Coast arguably having the more experienced of the two sides, the Geelong reserve players showed the benefit of having trained with those players involved in the recent premierships, proving to be in many situations a class above the naturally-talented Gold Coast juniors.

Half-time saw a number of changes, with both sides rotating four players on to play in the second half. Notably, the Suns replaced ruckman Zac Smith, who played a dominant opening half against Geelong first-year player Orren Stephenson. In addition, the Suns brought on 17-year-old Jaeger O’Meara to continue to give him match experience.

This decision proved fruitful as O’Meara scored the goal of the match in the third quarter, a superb around-the-body snap as part of a run led by captain Gary Ablett.

The six-pointer took the Suns to within three goals of the Cats by three-quarter time, and looking to push onward to challenge Geelong in the final term.

It was not to be however, with Geelong steamrolling the Suns with a six-goal-to-one final term to blow out the score to 49 points.